Monument record 661/1 - Late Iron Age/Roman field system and Roman trackway, Middlemore Farm

Archaeological investigations prior to development at Middlemore site 8e identified a series of late Iron Age/Roman ditches that divided the landscape into rectilinear enclosures/fields. A cluster of intercutting pits were also found. A later Roman phase comprised a trackway aligned north-east to south-west.

{2} The evaluation revealed a rectangular middle Iron Age enclosure within the south-eastern part of the site. A large pit of similar date to the west of the enclosure contained large quantities of charcoal and small amounts of animal bone which may indicate that it was used to deposit domestic waste. A linear trackway orientated broadly north-east to south-west crossed the northern edge of the site. The trackway was formed of two parallel ditches with a central compacted metalled surface around 10m wide surviving in one location. The trackway remains undated.

{3} Archaeological excavation of two areas was undertaken in 2019 after geophysical survey and trial trench excavation identified Iron Age and Roman features.

In the southern excavation area a series of ditches divided the landscape into rectilinear enclosures/fields, most likely for agricultural purposes; no structural evidence suggestive of settlement was present on site. Evidence of activity was limited within the bounded areas, comprising a small number of pits and postholes lacking spatial patterning, and suggestive of isolated agricultural activity. A cluster of inter‐cutting pits in the south‐west contained small quantities of pottery, animal bone, fired clay and charred plant remains, and are suggestive of nearby settlement activity.

Roman remains were confined to the north of the site and comprised a NE–SW aligned trackway/road formed of a metalled surface and two flanking ditches that probably had a drainage function. A very small quantity of Roman pottery, as well as residual late Iron Age/early Roman pottery, suggests that it may have been in use during the early–middle Roman period. It is possible
that the trackway/road, or its precursor, influenced the layout of the late Iron Age/early Roman enclosure/field system to its south‐east, though it appears to have continued in use after the cessation of the enclosures and perhaps formed part of a local network that connected to the nearby major Roman road of Watling Street.

A small number of probable Bronze Age worked flint and middle Iron Age pottery sherds were found as residual artefacts in later features, attesting to some degree of activity pre-dating the excavated features.

<1> 2019, Middlemore Site 8e, Daventry, Northamptonshire: archaeological geophysical survey (Report). SNN112078.

<2> Fellingham, A, 2019, Site 8e Middlemore, Daventry, Northamptonshire: archaeological evaluation report (Report). SNN112077.

<3> Howsam, C, 2020, Middlemore Site 8e, Daventry, Northamptonshire: Archaeological Excavation Report, June 2020 (Report). SNN112075.

<4> Crank, N. (Editor), 2020, South Midlands Archaeology (50), p. 91 (Journal). SNN112426.

<5> Oxford Archaeology (South), 2023, Digital Archive from an Archaeological Excavation at Middlemore Site 8e, Daventry, Northamptonshire, July 2019, https://doi.org/10.5284/1105609 (Digital archive). SNN115700.

<6> Charlotte L. Howsam, Daniel Stansbie and Gerry Thacker, 2023, Late Iron Age to Early Roman enclosures and a Roman road at Middlemore, Daventry (Article). SNN116517.

Record last edited

Feb 20 2025 4:06PM